Transplant patients celebrate the gift of life during upcoming organ donation week

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity, along with members of the Adult Birmingham Transplant Sports Team, are highlighting the importance of organ donation during the Organ Donation Week happening between 23 to 29 September.

Victoria (Tia) Thomas (pictured), who competed in volleyball at this year’s British Transplant Games is a proud advocate for Organ Donation Week.

She has also been selected for the Great British Team at the 2025 World Transplant Games in Germany next August.

Tia had always been fit and healthy and was a keen sports player, so it came as a massive shock when she suffered an unexplained cardiac arrest in 2019.

She had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator fitted and continued leading an active life.

When Tia fell pregnant in 2021, she became ill and had numerous cardiac arrests. Tia was diagnosed with Danon’s Disease and end of life heart failure in 2022, just 6 months after giving birth to her little boy.

She said, “My favourite walk was to the top floor to watch the sunrise or the sunset. I would listen to music the whole way and dream of being out of this place.”

Tia became more and more poorly as her heart deteriorated and she was often taken to intensive care. She was offered two hearts during these months, but sadly they were not suitable for her.

Tia recalls going to the hospital chapel one evening and thinking she wasn’t going to last much longer. She said: “I turned off my mobile phone, which wasn’t allowed and fell asleep. Within one hour, the nurse was waking me up as they had found a heart. I knew instantly it was the right one.”

The surgery went well and within a few weeks Tia was able to go home to her family and see her children. Tia has made an incredible recovery and last month she was able to compete in the British Transplant Games.

Tia is extremely grateful to the amazing team at the QE who looked after her throughout her transplant journey and said, “they became like family”.

“A special recognition must go to my donor and their family for the selfless act of giving me life. I will always be immensely grateful for this gift and do the most I can with the life I’ve been given.”

The Adult Birmingham Transplant Sports Team also won the Ross Taylor Transplant Sport Trophy for best overall team for the third year in a row at this year’s games.

Volunteer manager of the team, Martin Searle was also the recipient of the Peter Griffin Award for his outstanding contribution to supporting transplant sport and promoting organ donation.

Both Martin and Tia are great supporters of Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) Charity which is fundraising for The Edmonds Transplant Centre Birmingham which is currently being built on the QE site and will become a national centre of excellence for organ transplantation and will create a 'one stop shop' for patients throughout their treatment journey and recovery.

The Centre, supported by A Edmonds & Co Ltd, will bring all the specialist care to patients, including pre-transplant consultations, additional fitness classes before surgery, patient support groups, and rehabilitation classes after surgery.

Click here for more information and ways to support transplant patients.